Anoop Mandal – Jainacharya Yugbhushansuriji to Ashok Gehlot

Anoop Mandal

Dharmalaabh – Blessings, you be blessed with spirituality,

With infinite kindness and blessings of God, we are safe and in good health. With His blessings, hope
this finds you too, safe and healthy.

You might be aware that since last 100 years an anti-social group called “Anoop Mandal” is existing in
the State of Rajasthan. This group has its historic origin in a place which is now the State of Rajasthan
and over the years has expanded further in rural areas of Rajasthan and in rural areas of neighbouring
states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. This group was primarily formed 100 years back
by an individual with the objective of venting out personal vendetta against Jain religion in particular
and against other religions in general. Their evident anti-Jain and anti-religious stance survived well in
India under British rule.

It was at that time, that Britishers had been ruling India for almost 200 years. In the end of 19th century,
they had decided that British should leave India as and when circumstances became more favourable
for them to sow the seeds of future domination via different ways and means. You are well aware that
since inception of British rule in India they had adopted the policy of divide and rule. To give effect to
their policies, they planted ideological mines to create rift among religions, cultures, regions,
languages and people. Today after 70 years of independence, we can clearly see that those seeds
sown by British to divide and rule India, have flowered in the form of partition of India, a full blown Khalistani movement, secessionist far eastern Indian states, etc.

The British had keenly observed and noted the anti-religious stance of Anoop Mandal. They concluded
that it best suited for their larger strategy of sowing seeds of conflict in Indian society. To serve their
aforesaid purpose, British promoted this group by supporting them in their anti-Jain and anti-religious
activities. It would be of interest to note that even when regional kings and princes had banned them
in their kingdoms, the group and its followers could continue their anti-religious activity under
different names and of different characters, all due to the support of British rulers then¹.

You are well aware that we Jains are primarily non-violent and peace-loving community. The Jain
community has been facing this anti-social nuisance of Anoop Mandal’s followers for almost 100 years
now. In today’s age Indian constitution is attempting to promote a scientific temper in India. On the
other hand, it is astonishing and shocking to note that such completely baseless and unscientific
ideologies of Anoop Mandal are not only able to sustain but propagate further in independent India.
If we further dwell into Anoop Mandal’s ideologies as preached in their guiding book “Jagathitkarni”,
we observe that they have not only preached against Jain religion but also against Hindu, Sikh and
Buddha religions. The founder of Anoop Mandal and author of “Jagathitkarni” has penned numerous
lines in the book which are potentially capable of inciting hatred, promoting illusion and threatening
peace and stability of society.

From legal point of view, Indian constitution has recognised fundamental right of all religion /
denomination to propagate their ideas, beliefs and faith. But as may be evident from recent judicial
pronouncements, that freedom of speech is not absolute and it is subject to limitation. In the name of
freedom of speech and right to propagate no one can be allowed to misguide people, spread
superstition and incite hatred among citizens of our country. Recently, The Karnataka High Court in
case of Precilla D’souza V/s State of Karnataka held that no fundamental right is conferred on any

¹ The Assembly Of Listeners Jains In Society, published by Cambridge University Press 1991. (www.cambridge.org/9780521365055) at page 157 mentions:- “The Jains then began to organise, and about 40 years ago the people of Deldar village resisted a raid with the help of the local Jagirdar. The Anoop Mandal was in fact popular only in the rural areas and did not find support in the towns. The royal family was against the movement. In fact, it was formally banned by the princely administration, which consisted of Jain ministers and executives. The British, however, thought that this movement could be used to curb the Praja Mandal movement of Congress which was becoming popular in the fight for Independence. The Praja Mandal was made up mainly of Jains, hence the encouragement of Anoop Mandal would lessen its power. The Anoop Mandal later was registered as a political society. Its registration was cancelled but it was renamed Sirohi Seva Samiti and reregistered. The Anoop Mandal still exists in several villages, where it has established its own huts. It becomes most active during election times and works against
Jain candidates. Jains have not organised against Anoop Mandal on a continuous basis but have got together locally whenever there has been violence to sadhus.”

person espousing faith in a particular religion to degrade other religions i.e., no religion has
fundamental right to degrade other religions. Therefore, if such malicious propaganda is not stopped
immediately, it may lead to communal conflict and gross injustice to fundamental religious rights of all
followers of said religions.

Since independence the governments in India have recognised those divisive seeds and have
undertaken necessary containing measures against those issues like Khalistan, Kashmir etc. But it is sad
that since last 70 years this divisive issue in the form of Anoop Mandal has unfortunately missed the
attention of governments. Neither State Governments, Central Government nor Jains have resolved
to put dedicated efforts to restrain such malefic and nefarious activities of Anoop Mandal. Such false
preaching should be restricted from grass root level otherwise in the future such malicious propaganda
may prove to be threat to the unity, integrity and security of the country. Now it is pertinent for
governments to uproot such divisive force in a progressive society. It is also in the interest of
government to take such step to strengthen the democratic values of governments in India to protect
the notified minorities from such oppression.

As a final remark, I wish to stress that the root cause of this issue is continuous propaganda of
misinformation against Jain religion to uneducated and illiterate rural population by Anoop Mandal.
According to me, the effective solution to resolve this is to spread true information in convincing
manner, amongst that population, in their language and according to their understanding.
In view of the above, you are in a unique position to make a difference and it is desirable that you take
necessary steps to protect the rights of Jain community and its monks in the State of Rajasthan. Your
timely actions will foster the faith of Jain community and assure them safe environment in the State of
Rajasthan.

May every soul be uplifted, may every soul live innocently and allow others to live innocently, too.

Dharmalaabh